Improvement in mail-crane clamps



fA.-v. LUNGBR. Mail Crane Clamp.

No. 209,820. Pateted Nov. 12,1878.

Inventor:

N-PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D (24 mfizeses: v

JW Y@ UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGE.

AUGUSTUS v. LUNGER, or` NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAIL-CRANE'CLAIVIPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 209,820, dated November 12, 1878; application filed october 23, 187s.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS V. LUNGEE, ot' Newark, Essex county, N ew Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Mail-Crane Clamp, of which the following is a specification:

- Figure lis aside view, partly in section, of a mail-crane having my improved clamp, showing a mail-bag secured thereto. Fig. 2 is a side view of the saine, showing the crane in position after the mail-bag has been detached. Fig. 3 is a front elevation thereof. Fig. 4 is a detail side view, on an enlarged scale, ot' the clamp, and Fig. 5 a top view thereot'.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

This invention relates to a new device for securing mail-bags to station-cranes; and has for its'object to facilitate the attachment and removal of the bag without injury to the clamping device; also, to render the attachnient strong enough. to prevent the bag from being' dislocated by strong gusts of wind.,

The invention consists, principally, in making the clamp of two parts, one being a pivoted bolt, the other a notched spring-plate, as hereinafter described.

In the drawing, the letter A represents the post, and the letters B G the swinging arms, of a mail-crane of well-known construction. To the exposed end of each arm is secured one of my improved clamps D. This clamp consists of a bolt, a, and spring-plate b. The bolt a is, at d, pivoted to and between two plates, ef, that are rigidly secured to the arm of the crane, and project therefrom, as shown; or the bolt may be pivoted to the crane-arm in other suitable manner, so that it can swing sidewise on its pivot. The outer end of the bolt is narrow enough to permit its insertion through the eye or ring at the end ofthe mailbag, as indicated. The spring-plate b is, at or near one end, rigidly secured to the plate c, or to the crane-arm.` Its other free end has a notch, bx, and bears upon the end of the bolt a, as shown in Figs. l and 4, whenever the bolt is swung beneath said spring-plate'.

The bag is secured to the crane by fitting the eyes or rings at its ends over the bolts a and bringing the bolts into line with their respective spring-plates, Whose notched ends bear on the bolts, as indicated in Figr4. The notched end of each spring-plate will, by bearing on the bolt, prevent the bag from sliding oftl the bolt lengthwise, and also prevent the bolt from swinging laterally, except under severe strain 5 yet when the bag-catcherI ot' a passing train grasps the bag it will readily disen gage the same by swinging the bolts sidewise, as in Figs. 3 and 5, thereby making it easy to slip the bag ott' said bolts.' The clamp will not be at all injured bythe detachment of the bag, nor will anypart of the crane receive injurious strain thereby.

I claiml. In a mail-bag crane, the combination of the supporting-arm with the pivoted bolt a and with the spring b, said spring being rigidly secured to the arm, so that it cannot swing aside when the bolt a swings aside, substantially as specilied.

2. The combination of the bolt a and springplate b with the plates efand with the arm of a mail-crane, substantially as herein shown and described.

AUGUSTUS V. LUN GER. Witnesses:

F. v. BRIESEN,

J. TURK. 

